Posts Tagged ‘college student’

My 19 year old son is a full time college student with a part time job (working 8 hours a week). Can we deduct any books or school fees as our dependent?

Books are deductible if required for a class at an accredited college. The books are added to your tuition in the American Opportunity Credit (AOC). Use Form 8863, Education Credits and attach it to Form 1040 or 1040A.

My 18 YO made $8600.00 last year and paid $682 in Fed taxes. He would like to file his own taxes and try to recoup that money. He was 1/2 year a Sr in HS, 1/2 year college freshman last year.

If he files his own taxes, will I still be able to claim his college tuition on mine? If I claim him as a dependent and add his income will this effect our FAFSA application?

-Jennifer

Jennifer,

You must be proud of your hard-working son!

If you meet all the dependency tests, your son can still be claimed as your dependent. The support test is probably the deciding factor for you; if you provided more than half your son’s support (food, housing, clothing, medical care, etc), then he is still your dependent, no matter how much money he makes.

He should file a tax return to get a refund of the federal income tax withheld.

Your son should file his own tax return, but since he is your dependent, you can still claim the college tuition credit such as the American Opportunity Credit.
There is a place on your son’s tax return to check that he is claimed by another person as a dependent. Make sure he checks that box! I cover it in my Teens and Taxes ebook.

His earnings will affect his financial aid. The FAFSA typically assumes that one-half of a student’s earned income will be applied toward college expenses, so I hope he saved up some of that $8,600 to pay for college!

Thank you very much for the information provided here. I have a 19 year old who worked last year part-time and earned $3000 dollars and a 25 year old college student who also worked part time last year and earned$ 3000 dollars.

My question is if they file their own tax, do they qualify for their college credit, or do I need to request the credit on mine?

Please help (me) to understand. Thank you!

Ivette

Dear Ivette,
You’re very welcome!

Chances are that your 25 year old son is no longer eligible to be your dependent.

To be a dependent your child must meet all the IRS dependency tests and:

“must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year”

But if your 19 year old son passes the dependency tests (and he probably does), then you claim the college credit on your tax return when he goes to college.

Note: There are several tax credits for college: The American Opportunity Credit, the Life Time Learning Credit and the Tuition Tax deduction.

Funny system, huh? A teenager files his own tax return, but his parents can claim him as a dependent and claim the college tax credit.